Amount of calories?

yahmd

Hello!

I have been struggling to know the amount of calories I should be eating. I'm 20 years old, 5'5 126 pounds and a lot of the calorie calculators online tell me to eat about 1300 calories per day to lose 1 pound per week but I find it hard to stay to that limit on most days.

Would love some help/advice. Should I increase the number of calorie? or should I just work with it?
Thanks!

shad1018

what does MFP say? depending upon the amount of weight you want to lose per week, you can increase or decrease your calorie goal. I do better with 1600 a day than 1300, but that's just me

cmriverside

You only have seven pounds to lose. You should set your goal here to "Lose 1/2 pound per week". 1300 calories is quite low for someone your size and age.

Unless you are sitting down for 90% of your day, you need way more calories - like several hundred more.. No wonder you are having trouble. Your BMR is 1342, that is the bare minimum amount you need to stay alive, if you were in bed all day, in a coma, and that would just keep your bodily functions going!

Set your activity level accurately. Are you in school? Do you work? If so, you need several hundred calories more a day, even without doing any planned exercise.

If you exercise, you need that many number of calories more. . . .just use the tools here honestly. This site is set up for you to accomplish your goals. But you have to be realistic.

Here: read these-

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits


.

ckerth

1300 calories seems low. If you are exercising, 1300 seems very low. To keep your metabolism up you don't want to reduce the calories so low that your body goes into starvation mode.

cgavin77

are you working out as well? That will matter,as you need enough fuel for your body.